A.M. Links: DHS Gets Armored Toy, Millions of Dollars Worth of Aid Released to Egypt, Former Foreign Policy Adviser Says Obama Has a "Risk-Averse Attitude"

Credit:#PACOM/flickr

• The Department of Homeland Security has acquired Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, which come equipped with gun ports and tires that will not go flat when shot.

• Secretary of State John Kerry has released $250 million in aid to Egypt, saying that the aid is intended to support the country's "future as a democracy."

• A former foreign policy adviser has claimed that the president's "risk-averse attitude" has harmed American interests in the Middle East. 

• A bill will be introduced to the Colorado Senate next week that would require law enforcement officials to take a course on how to deal with dogs. 

• Human rights activists claim that Syrian rebels have captured the governor of the northern Raqqa province. 

• The Italian president is considering putting a technocratic government together rather than hold another election as a way to resolve Italy's political stalemate. 

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Department of Homeland Security has acquired Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles...

Must ban military assault type vehicles for civilians now.

[Just Counterfly]

Winger: C'mon, it's Czechoslovakia. We zip in, we pick 'em up, we zip right out again. We're not going to Moscow. It's Czechoslovakia. It's like we're going into Wisconsin.
Russell: Well, I got the shit kicked out of me in Wisconsin once. Forget it.

[Francisco d Anconia]

We got one heavily armed recreational vehicle here, man.

[some guy]

Why the hell would DHS need such things? Couldn't they and shouldn't they just call the National Guard?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Why should weekend warriors get all the fun of declaring war against fellow Americans?

[Suthenboy]

Call them for what? To go back to their hometowns and gun down their high school buddies and their own families?

That is a job for the DHS. Being a conspiracy nut I think he is stealthily building his "civilian defense force, just as strong and just as well equipped as the military".

[Harvard]

I'm thinking they need a better uniform. Something in a brown shirt maybe.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Jackboots. The definitely need Jackboots.

[crashland]

Oh and a cool armband...

[Bobarian]

"civilian defense force, just as strong and just as well equipped as the military".

It sounds a lot better when you say it in the original german.

[CE]

Zivilverteidigung Kraft, ebenso stark und ebenso gut ausgestattet wie das Milit

[Flatulent Monkey]

Dang it... you made it to google translate first!

[Flatulent Monkey]

Zivilverteidigung Kraft, ebenso stark und ebenso gut ausgestattet wie das Milit?r...?

[Flatulent Monkey]

California ?ber alles!

[Drake]

You are correct about the Guard. They wouldn't be much use against their own communities.

[Drake]

Few National Guard units have them yet. When I left (about 6 years ago) we still had some stripped Chevy Blazers ffrom the 70's to get around in as well as Humvees and M113's.

[LTC(ret) John]

We improved since then (of course, I just left in July) - but I am pissed the DHS would get any of these.

Give them to the Guard, Reserve and nobody else. Cops can use Fords like everyone else.

[Rich]

They've acquired "over 2,700".

It seems they're planning to deliver a *lot* of warrants.

[thom]

I imagine these things will not do nice things to city streets. If driving these around all the time to intimidate us is part of their secret police plans, I hope they at least have the decency to reimburse local municipalities for the inevitable wear and tear on city streets.

[Raston Bot]

but maintenance is easy and fuel costs are cheap so that makes up for it.

[Corneliusm]

Really, reason? You link to the Reason 24/7 article, which then links to the original article from yesterday.

There's a point where having 3 separate feeds becomes annoying.

[CE]

Those MRAPs will be fun when they add them to GTA. When they go on the gun confiscation rounds, not so much.

[Lord Humungus]

Scientists explain 'beer goggles'
'Beer goggles', the phenomenon used to explain how a few stiff drinks can transform the plainest face into something much more attractive, has been revealed as a myth by a brain expert.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sci.....ggles.html

Dr Ellison, senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Durham University, has found that a fluke of nature sees alcohol closing down the section of the mind that stops us acting on impulse long before it deadens the 'reptilian' part responsible for our sexual urges.

The area of the brain that makes us want to mate is the oldest part - and located so far down that it keeps functioning however much we drink - until we are ready to pass out.

[The DerpRider]

Free the serpent!

[Just Counterfly]

If it shuts down the part that stops us from acting on impulse, but keeps the part that wants to get busy going, then how the hell are beer goggles a myth?

[RBS]

I know, sounds like someone doesn't actually know what beer goggles are.

[Atanarjuat]

Well, the plain face doesn't become attractive-looking, you just become willing to get it on with someone plain.

[Just Counterfly]

I guess, but I mean who REALLY thought that they became more attractive, not that your own standards had lowered.

Brain experts everywhere, I guess.

[Atanarjuat]

So, it's not really like this.

[Professional Target]

I'd need to stack several pairs on my face to go for Aunt Selma.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

So, as your inhibitions are lowered, you rationalize that the plain face isn't so bad after all. Sounds like beer goggles.

[Professional Target]

you rationalize that the plain face isn't so bad after all

More like you don't notice, I think.
I got slightly hammered at the Freshman Mixer (freshmen being drinking age will give a time frame) and hit it off with this girl. We decided to go back to her place. Fortunately it was a long walk.
I swear her nose grew. Her chin grew. Her teeth went dark and crooked. There was a smell, too. Suddenly I realized why she was so thrilled with me.
Puking gave me an excuse to turn left and stagger home.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I think it depends on the context. If you're already drunk when you first see her, it's probably that you don't notice. If you see her before you are drunk but then she looks better as the night goes on, I think it's some kind of rationalization.

[Francisco d Anconia]

What's a 2 at 10, is a 10 at 2.

[Professional Target]

Maybe so. Never really seriously thought about it beyond simple, observed causation. I don't see where it usually makes it that high in the thinking structure. Maybe the whole concept of sexual attractiveness is just a hormone-driven balancing act in the first place?

[Francisco d Anconia]

And what's with this someone plain shit? What he means to say is da bitch is 40 lbs overweight, fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down and landed on her face, and most likely smells funny. You know...plain.

[a better weapon]

This goes against years of my own research and that of many of my colleagues. Years I say!

He must be using Maker's Mark or Budweiser.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Of you had a latent attraction to slightly chubby and overly chatty ladies. Your designated driver should have been your control group.

[a better weapon]

I regret nothing.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

How does this reveal it as a myth, then?

[some guy]

Is he saying that beer doesn't make her look prettier, it just makes you not care that she's ugly?

[Lord Humungus]

yes. And then you sneak out in the morning, hoping she doesn't wake up.

[Virginian]

No, you let her out the window. I have a friend who was well known for this. He kept, I swear to God I'm not lying, the following items on the fire escape.

Nutrigrain bar, bottle of water, cheap sunglasses, tiny pack of gum, and a dollar store poncho.

He'd get them out the window, throw phone and purse out after them, and then lock it.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Everyone knows what coyote ugly is...

When you wake up with your arm underneath her head and you rather chew it off, to escape, rather than wake her.

Then you had double coyote ugly, where once you got away, you chewed off the other one to make sure it never happened again.

[Bobarian]

The whole priority in descending order was:

1. One Bagger- Put a bag on her head and go for the glory.

2. Two Bagger - One bag for her and another for you (to throw up in) if her bag came off.

3. Coyote

4. Double Coyote - you would chew off your other arm if you heard that she was going around town looking for a one-armed man

[Professional Target]

Is he saying that beer doesn't make her look prettier, it just makes you not care that she's ugly?

I wonder if there's really a difference?

[PS]

Because the "scientist" is a psychologist.

[Suthenboy]

'Beer goggles.....has been revealed as a myth by a brain expert."

I have personally done extensive experimentation in this area and all of my research shows that beer goggles do indeed exist.

[Professional Target]

Big time!
Women, though, seem more influenced by if you have other women enjoying your company. In college I worked at a restaurant/bar frequented by rich alumni, so a lot of my coworkers were good-looking women. While I was stuck in the friends zone with most of them, going out with the group of them got me a lot of access to other women.

[Kaptious Kristen]

If beer goggles are not a myth, neither is whiskey dick, gentlemen.

[Just Counterfly]

OK, what do you consider WD, KK?

Cause I always thought it not getting, uh, engorged, or engorged enough was what it was.

But I have like the opposite issue when I drink, where I can basically go forever.

Which makes me think I had the whole concept wrong in the first place.

Your response will forever answer this question for me (either I am a freak, or I was wrong about it in the first place).

[Kaptious Kristen]

I can basically go forever

Yes, this. Women don't need a man to go on forever. Women tend to lose lubrication after a while, then chafing sets in. And if you don't come in a reasonable amount of time, the woman thinks she's bad in bed.

[Professional Target]

My experience this is generally true, but with glorious exceptions.

[Just Counterfly]

Thanks! I wonder why I took it to mean something else. Public education, I guess.

[mad libertarian guy]

What is "reasonable?" 10 minutes? 8? 3?

Are you telling me that striving to be like a porn star and having the ability to fuck for 20 minutes of straight ramming away might be a bad thing?

[Kaptious Kristen]

"Reasonable" = she's gotten off a couple of times and is just ready to go to sleep and would you please just finish?

[Professional Target]

So if she says I "can keep going forever" it just seems like forever?

[Brett L]

I feel like I have to drink to this because reasonable is in quotations.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Watch out for that whiskey dick!

[Professional Target]

Alcohol can be nasty stuff. The "beer belly" is also real, and it isn't just the calories. Alcohol (and sugar, BTW) is a hepatic poison and can cause fat storage in the liver, which enlarges it, pushing out the belly.

[generic Brand]

stop othering me!

[Hyperion]

It's not a myth, but alcohol does not make anyone more attractive, it's just that your discretion is lowered by a lot, you just don't care. Alcohol causes a temporary spike in testosterone levels, lowers inhibitions, and the ability of your logical higher brain starts to lose control of reptilian brain.

That is pretty much it, the ugly fat girl doesn't look any better than before, it's just that you don't care because you want to act on primitive urges without your typical level of restraint. Yes, I have been the victim of this more than once.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Italian president is considering putting a technocratic government together...

Insert rail schedule joke here.

[mad libertarian guy]

The Italian president is considering putting a technocratic government together...

They don't already have one?

[some guy]

I don't think any part of their government is an expert on anything...

[Fist of Etiquette]

Berlusconi had some expertise.

[mad libertarian guy]

I don't think any part of their government is an expert on anything...

Neither does a technocratic government.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Technically, no. (god I crack myself up)

[SugarFree]

Otherwise predictable story on a sexting crackdown contains this disturbing detail:

All of this should make the high school rethink its approach to dealing with sexting at school. Punishing 10 girls for a schoolwide phenomenon only reinforces the idea that girls who sext should be publicly shamed, while boys who sext?and share?are empowered to keep their selfies safely in their pockets. If the school really wants to mitigate the damaging consequences of sexting, it ought to crack down on nonconsensual forwarders, not self-exploratory photographers. Take the case of the sole boy who's been caught up in the school's sexting scandal: He stands accused of "masturbating on his family's cat and on a relative's toothbrush, videotaping that relative brushing his teeth and sending the images to friends."

[Longtorso]

I learned it from watching you, SugarFree, I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU!!

[Drax the Destroyer]

Watching NutraSweet in any capacity is the worst thing you could do to yourself. I think you deserved it.

[Longtorso]

But without SF, where would I learn which tattoo magazines are the best?

[Drax the Destroyer]

There are pros and cons to going to the font of knowledge that is SugahFee. Unfortunately, it is not without it's risks (reading his "fanfiction" comes to mind) [ Shudders ].

[mad libertarian guy]

it ought to crack down on nonconsensual forwarders

What the fuck is a "nonconsensual forwarder"? How can anyone be forced to forward something?

[SugarFree]

It's their awkward phrase for someone who forwards something that was forwarded to them by the original and intended recipient. They throw "nonconsensual" on there to hint it's some nebulous form of rape.

Don't want everyone in school to see your jiggly bits? Don't a take a picture of them and send it to a high school boy.

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

And once again, poor writing is even more offensive than poor thinking.

[Virginian]

From Ace.mu.nu yesterday:

You have to accept two propositions:

1. Rape is a heinous moral crime, in a separate category from every other trespass except murder.

And simultaneously:

2. Everything you disfavor is kind of pretty much rape.

I can accept one of those. I guess I'm not enlightened enough to see the simultaneous truthfulness of both.

[Just Counterfly]

Maybe they mean like if I send something to you For Your Eyes Only, and then you send it to everyone on the lacrosse team, and I can't even walk the halls anymore because all of your jerk friends laugh at me, AND WE HAD SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL, MLG, AND YOU RUINED IT.

[mad libertarian guy]

AND WE HAD SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL, MLG, AND YOU RUINED IT.

Ruined it?

I merely exchanged our something beautiful for something beautiful from the entire lacrosse team. You just weren't involved. From my perspective, I made it more beautiful.

[Just Counterfly]

Someone needs to tell him that's not the kind of pussy people are talking about.

[db]

There was a kid in our high school who was caught blowing the neighbor's dog. He soon transferred to another school. A private boarding school.

[Just Counterfly]

Is he by chance a teacher in Colorado now?

[Atanarjuat]

Nah, he's a cop in WA state now.

[mad libertarian guy]

Nah, he's a cop in WA state now.

Zing!

[db]

No idea. I think he ended up going to an Ivy League law school.

[gaijin]

masturbating on ...on a relative's toothbrush...

Pearl Drops toothpolish...mmmm

[Lord Humungus]

Be of good cheer:

Russians mark 60th anniversary of Stalin's death
http://www.irishexaminer.com/b.....86966.html

Russians are marking the 60th anniversary of the death of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin today, with devotees laying flowers at his tomb in Moscow while critics blame the former Soviet leader for millions of deaths in purges and prison camps.

Stalin led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. Communists credit him with leading the country to victory in the Second World War while others condemn the brutal purges that killed millions.

The cover of weekly Liberal Moskovskie Novosti today featured "Stalin. Farewell" with the dictator's face scribbled over with childish graffiti. Staunch Communist daily Sovetskaya Rossiya ran a cover story on Stalin headlined "His time will come".

[mad libertarian guy]

I'm not sure how Russians haven't yet completely desecrated every reminder of Stalin. And worse yet, how some still praise him even after tens of millions of deaths.

[Just Counterfly]

People always yap about the tens of millions he killed, but never say anything about the hundreds of millions he didn't kill.

[Pro Libertate]

Look, Stalin didn't personally kill those people. And he cried when each one died, lamenting the cruel necessity.

Worse than Hitler? Maybe, especially if you go by body count and the fact that by allying with Hitler, he made WWII much worse than it might've been.

[mad libertarian guy]

The only dictator I can imagine that is even on par with Stalin is Mao. Hitler is a joke in comparison to those two fuckers. Hitler was a cock munching murderer for sure, but he gets the fucking stick by history for having the gaul to lose the war, while Stalin and Mao, together accountable for the death of perhaps 100 million or more people, have their likeness printed on fucking tee shirts for the literati to wear.

[Brett L]

I think, given the tools they had to work with, the Khmer Rouge has to be in the running.

[MJGreen]

Hitler killed millions of people for icky reasons like racism. Mao and Stalin didn't mean to kill millions, it just happened. If anything, the victims are usually to blame for trying to ignore their well meaning diktats.

[KPres]

Here's how I like to think about Stalin....it would take 3 Oklahoma City bombings every day since the Russian Revolution to kill as many innocent people as he did.

[Longtorso]

Hiding a gun
The rules of three
By Claire Wolfe

[Just Counterfly]

The Italian president is considering putting a technocratic government together rather than hold another election as a way to resolve Italy's political stalemate.

Aren't Italian technocrats like German comedians?

With the possible exception of the Minister of Bunga Bunga.

[a better weapon]

I'd prefer technovikings, but I suppose it will do.

[Way Of The Crane]

A bill will be introduced to the Colorado Senate next week that would require law enforcement officials to take a course on how to deal with dogs.

Future News: Colorado experiences massive increase in dog deaths involving police batons.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Isn't it possible to armor most cops sufficiently that dogs let alone most small arms fire would not be much of a concern? Sure one swat member might have to hit the floor and wrestle the mutt, but why do they have the incessant need to kill the damn things? Are they pussies or something?

[Way Of The Crane]

Are they pussies or something?

Yes. Yes they are.

[Atanarjuat]

Are they pussies

IMO, that's an understatement for a group of armed thugs who can't stop whining about their own safety, when everyone with a middle-school grasp of statistics knows their job isn't very dangerous, and whose typical method of dealing with an unknown, be it a scared grandmother or family pet, is cover their eyes, squeal like a teenage girl and empty their whole magazine in the general direction of the "threat".

[mad libertarian guy]

IMO, that's an understatement for a group of armed thugs who can't stop whining about their own safety, when everyone with a middle-school grasp of statistics knows their job isn't very dangerous, and whose typical method of dealing with an unknown, be it a scared grandmother or family pet, is cover their eyes, squeal like a teenage girl and empty their whole magazine in the general direction of the "threat".

Well said.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A bill will be introduced to the Colorado Senate next week that would require law enforcement officials to take a course on how to deal with dogs.

Dogs should teach it, Far Side style. Reverse obedience school.

[Just Counterfly]

Will they be union dogs?

[a better weapon]

They should ask the DHS to hook them up with Law Enforcement Training Inc so they can print them some dog targets.

"Those new to this course, pick up your chocolate lab targets for training! Seasoned officers, we're testing today so grab your min-pin targets and make em count!"

[Lord Humungus]

Singing the Sequester Soap Opera
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03.....html?_r=1&

Since today's Republican Party knows a thing or two about assisted suicides, you would think its leadership would have taken to heart Mr. Obama's warnings and struck a deal before their abysmal approval ratings sank even lower. Should the G.O.P. enter into yet another budget showdown with Mr. Obama in which they appear to be intransigent, eager to slash spending programs for the poor and determined to secure tax breaks for the rich? My theory: perhaps, in spite of the president's best efforts to frame the debate in that way, Republicans are finally on the winning side of a fight.

For once, Mr. Obama seems to be the one who has overplayed his hand.

[mad libertarian guy]

My theory: perhaps, in spite of the president's best efforts to frame the debate in that way, Republicans are finally on the winning side of a fight.

He forgot to add that the media is helping Obama frame the argument in just this way with all of their might.

Too bad the media isn't on the losing end of the fight as well. The legacy media cannot die a quick enough death.

[Lord Humungus]

The Reverse-Joads of California
Low- and middle-income residents are fleeing the state. Sacramento's liberal policies may bear much of the blame.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop

Over the past two decades, a net 3.4 million people have moved out of California for other states. But contrary to conservative lore, there has been no millionaires' march to Texas or other states with no income tax. In fact, since 2005 California has experienced a net in-migration of households earning more than $200,000, according to the U.S. Census's American Community Survey.

As it happens, most of California's outward-bound migrants are low- to middle-income, with relatively little education: those typically employed in agriculture, construction, manufacturing, hospitality and to some extent natural-resource extraction.

[Palin's Buttplug]

But contrary to conservative lore

That bubble again.

[Virginian]

But contrary to conservative lore, there has been no millionaires' march to Texas or other states with no income tax.

________

What conservative lore? Texas is a business friendly environment for everyone, of all income levels. From oil tycoons to people running a hot dog stand. I've never heard conservatives make the argument that millionaires were leaving CA for TX. They move their business on paper sometimes (Apple), but millionaires can afford to stay in CA.

It's the middle class that gets screwed by high cost of living, not the rich.

[Drax the Destroyer]

TX has more fat people as well. If I had a billionaire dollars I might suck up the CA rape to attract the broken starlets of Hollywood to my harem.

[db]

That's a phrase thrown in to warm up closed minded liberals to keep reading, lest the shock of hearing something clashing with their echo chamber drive them insane too early in the article. Sadly, few of them read further than that once they feel their biases have been confirmed.

[Virginian]

Seriously, I just hate that strawman. I don't know of anyone who has claimed that millionaires were leaving California in droves. The place is freaking paradise. If I had 50 million in the bank, I'd buy a giant beachouse and do nothing but smoke weed and bang all the "aspiring actresses". If you have lots of money, it's a great place.

If you actually work for a living in the private sector, things are bad and getting worse. People with lots of money actually might like a high cost of living: keeps the riff raff out. It's just the regular people that get screwed.

[Francisco d Anconia]

The only problem with California is that it's filled with Californians.

[jesse.in.mb]

You have that precisely backwards, the problem with CA is that if you shake the rest of the nation crazy falls west.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I came up with a theory.

When I was young, it was fairly common in the East to hear a failure say he was going to pack it all up and move to California. The failed business owner. People who lost their jobs. People who got into altercations with the law... The idea being, moving there to get a fresh start.

Hence, you end up with a state full of losers.

[jesse.in.mb]

Yes, but they're your losers. I consider it a community service that we absorb a certain portion of the nation's crazy so y'all can keep it at manageable levels. We've clearly hit crazy saturation here though.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Yes, but they're your losers.

Not anymore.

Serious question...

Living there, does it seem to be coming apart at the seams? It looks that way from out here? Do people who are living it realize it isn't sustainable?

[jesse.in.mb]

It's a mixed bag. People clearly know things aren't going quite right, but most people are familiar with one set of problems or another. I know a lot of people that were stoked when Brown magically fixed the state budget, and another group that saw it as at least partial flimflammery.

I also think that the media really enjoys making CA seem like a hellhole. Last time I was in NY people were SHOCKED to learn that I was not living in some kind of Mad Max dystopia, and watching the nightly news out there I totally understood why they would think that.

[mad libertarian guy]

How do we explain DC and the failures who only succeed because of graft?

[Fatty Bolger]

Exactly. Millionaires can afford to live where they want, so why would they be in a hurry to leave? But the small business owner who nets a couple hundred grand a year, just to see it all eaten up in taxes, will seriously consider a move.

[a better weapon]

So that wasn't a one off, campaign thing was it? People making $200K+ are officially millionaires from here on out?

[Zeb]

Unless they are really bad at saving, they probably will be at some point. But being a millionaire isn't terribly impressive these days.

[Spoonman.]

Housing in California is on average 2.7 times more expensive than in Texas. The median house costs $459 per square foot in San Francisco and $323 in San Jose, but just $84 in Houston

Houston is the largest city in the United States without formal zoning regulations

ding ding ding

[Kaptious Kristen]

Just wait til all those Californians flee the hellhole they have created, arrive in Houston, and proceed to create the same hell they just fled.

[Brett L]

"Git a rope."

[VG Zaytsev]

As it happens, most of California's outward-bound migrants are low- to middle-income, with relatively little education: those typically employed in agriculture, construction, manufacturing, hospitality and to some extent natural-resource extraction.

WOW

Government destroying an economy hurts the working class first, not the idle rich or the welfare parasites.

[KPres]

"As it happens, most of California's outward-bound migrants are low- to middle-income, with relatively little education: those typically employed in agriculture, construction, manufacturing, hospitality and to some extent natural-resource extraction."

INOW, it isn't rich people that are fleeing the welfare state, it's poor people....almost like the programs make their lives worse, so they want to get out. Now, who's been saying that for the past 40-50 years?

[PS]

I see that Cato is going to hire that sleazebag Vaclav Klaus because they naively think the guy is some sort of believer or practitioner of free markets. I'd like to enlighten anyone buying into this horseshit, the only thing Klaus ever believed in was in the accumulation of power for his own self-aggrandizement.

Remember that mass pardon that Klaus did a little while back? It just happened to pardon some huge corruption cases of people with ties to Klaus's ODS party and to himself.

Here's a (badly) Google translated list of corruption (and other cases) that would benefit from Klaus's amnesty. At the top of the list is the Komercni Banka scandal where around half a billion dollars sort of disappeared:

[PS]

KB and Barak Alon.
Probably the biggest bank tunnel in the modern history of the Czech Commercial banks are businesses with BCL Trading Austrian businessman Barak Alon. Bank on them between 1997-1999 lost billion, according to some information reportedly up to eight billion.

Prison would probably avoid all eight accused former members of the Board who threatened two years to eight years behind bars. The police are chasing since May 2000, more than twelve years, and the case was before the court three times.

And who was the general director of Komercni Banka when all this money was "allegedly" being tunneled out of the country? A senator for ODS, Richard Salzmann. Komercni Banka was 60% government-controlled when Klaus stepped down after almost six years as PM. It was finally sold off in 2001.

Vaclav Klaus was never a big fan of going after corruption, or any sort of pesky transparency, especially if it involved himself or anyone connected with his party. There was an anti-corruption unit set up in the Czech government when ODS was partners with the socialists and guess who was their biggest critic? That "thatcherite" Klaus. Eventually it was shut down with a lot of pressure from both the left and right.

[PS]

http://www.praguepost.com/arch.....probe.html

Many Clean Hands targets stemmed from questionable state sell-offs during the earlier Klaus administration. Klaus himself has often blasted Basta, calling Clean Hands a danger to the economy. "There is an air of criminality around all economic acts," Klaus said about Clean Hands early last year. "If we manage to 'de-Basta-ize' ourselves early enough, there is hope that economic growth will move ahead, but if we suspect every economic success or failure of criminal activity ... then the reality will be far worse.

Hey guys, economic health requires bending a few rules, breaking a few eggs, having a few billion dollars tunneled out of the country every now and then. This was Klaus's position whenever corruption was brought up. I guess I'm just naive to think that a free market needs to be accompanied by some sort of rule-of-law.

As the noble Vaclav Klaus steps down as president, the Czech Republic ranks 54 on Transparency International's list, behind such illustrious countries as Rwanda, Georgia and Bahrain.

[PS]

But at least Klaus talks about free market ideals, even if he doesn't necesarily practice them, right?

Ha!

Read this Klaus apologists:

http://www.praguepost.com/arch.....tdown.html

Becker, citing 18th-century British economist Adam Smith, said that banks should only take actions that are considered prudent for them and their shareholders, since "by pursuing their own ends, they will contribute to society's well-being."

But Klaus, who claims to be a follower of Smith, bristled at those words. For much of the past year, Klaus has been trying to urge the banks to extend more loans to Czech businesses, lower their interest rates and ease up on pursuing bad loans - all for the sake of economic recovery.

Pressuring a government majority-controlled bank (that his administration couldn't be bothered to privatize in the six years they held power) to ease up on bad loans, extend more loans and lower their interest rates in order to promote economic stimulas, gee that sounds like a familiar recipe for success. I can't recall where I've heard such sentiments before, but it must be very free markety, otherwise why would Cato be hiring this guy? And why would so many libertians in the West think of Klaus as a fellow-traveler?

[PS]

Sorry for the length, took me more than an hour to write up, but I really wanted to debunk this idea that Vaclav Klaus was some sort of great libertarian politician.

[Virginian]

libertarian politician is an oxymoron in pretty much every case.

[DJF]

I get the feeling that you are not a member of the Vaclav Klaus fan club?

[PS]

I get the feeling that you are not a member of the Vaclav Klaus fan club?

Well, I don't think the guy is stupid, so he's got that going for him. And I don't think he's venal, he wasn't interested in crony capitalism in order to line his pockets, merely for the power.

[T]

He's more a stalker, apparently.

[Ted S.]

Isn't he also somebody who pisses off the Brussels Class, which is why they hate him so much? Somehow I doubt Milos Zeman and his nasty racist campaign against the Schwarzenbergs is much better, but hey, the Brussels Class likes him more or less.

Top 09 and Public Affairs didn't turn out much better either, if memory serves?

(I listen to Radio Prague, and get the impression that a goodly portion of the hate towards him is down to wrong thinking on other issues, like the EU and the environment. It's much the same way that the right-thinking people hate Berlusconi, so his sexual peccadilloes are wonderful to talk about, but Dominique Strauss-Kahn had to be forgiven for his, and how awful it is to have to talk about them, because he was one of the right-thinkers.)

[PS]

Isn't he also somebody who pisses off the Brussels Class, which is why they hate him so much? Somehow I doubt Milos Zeman and his nasty racist campaign against the Schwarzenbergs is much better, but hey, the Brussels Class likes him more or less.

Yes, he says some cool stuff that drives those people crazy, he's a Euroskeptic, AGW sceptic, talks about free markets, and even railed against anti-Americanism. I'm not saying the socialists don't suck even more, but his record on corruption is simply appalling and his record on free market reforms is pretty sketchy. The truth is that Klaus' agenda was always about acquiring power for Klaus, and if that meant that the peasants had to be bilked out of a few billion here and there, well so be it.

Just because Team Blue sucks even worse here in Europe than it does Stateside doesn't mean anyone should blindly accolades on a rather odious Team Red guy like Klaus.

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

Thanks for posting, PS. I haven't followed Cato much lately and I'm pretty surprised by this. Dude may be a Euroskeptic but...ugh.

[PS]

Kochsuckers 😉

[The Late P Brooks]

A former foreign policy adviser has claimed that the president's "risk-averse attitude" has harmed American interests in the Middle East.

Racist.

[DJF]

I am an American and I don't have any interests in the Middle East.

If this "former foreign policy adviser" has interests in the Middle East then why doesn't he go there and take care of his own interests and stop bothering Americans.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I don't have any interests in the Middle East.

Do you drive a vehicle with an internal combustion engine?

[DJF]

Yes, but I can drive it less. But what are the Middle Easterners going to do with that oil if they don't sell it. Even Iran wants to sell oil, its the US which is stopping them, just like it stopped Saddam from selling oil.

And with the billions saved by not sending the US military to the Middle East we can probably out bid other users for the remaining oil.

And the US military is one of the biggest users of oil in the world, stop sending them around the world and that would also save a lot of oil.

[ant1sthenes]

He buys local, organically grown gas.

[DJF]

Not all oil comes from the Middle East and even the Middle Eastern countries that hate us wants to sell oil on the open market.

[Eduard van Haalen]

And a former domestic policy adviser says that the President's commitment to austerity is harming the economy. Sheesh!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Secretary of State John Kerry has released $250 million in aid to Egypt, saying that the aid is intended to support the country's "future as a democracy."

The modesty police just found their funding.

[DJF]

How about instead the US government give the money back to the taxpayers and so they have a the future of not being broke.

[Just Counterfly]

But we already have a democracy, dumbass.

[DJF]

Since nobody I vote for wins, I would rather have the tax money back. Especially since I don't even get a vote in Egypt, so why am I paying for their democracy?

[Just Counterfly]

Democracy means I don't have to answer your questions. Or give you your money back.

[Bobarian]

And the likelihood of us having a "future as a democracy" is a lot higher than Egypt.

[mad libertarian guy]

How about instead the US government give the money back to the taxpayers and so they have a the future of not being broke.

Not to burst your bubble, but that would net taxpayers about $1.25 each. Less than a $1 if we reimburse everyone in the country (and not just taxpayers).

[Brett L]

Its a start.

[Francisco d Anconia]

that would net taxpayers about $1.25 each.

Then let's do it several thousand times.

[wareagle]

I know "future democracy" is the first thought I have when associating terms with the Brotherhood.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, you can't buy that many drones with $250 million, so we're safe.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Quarter billion here, quarter billion there...

Sooner or later you are talking real money.

THERE. IS. NOTHING. LEFT. TO. CUT.

[Lord Humungus]

Gun deaths, violent crime overall are down in District and U.S., but reasons are elusive
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ml?hpid=z2

As welcome as such changes have been, explanations for the nation's plummeting homicide rate remain elusive, stymieing economists, criminologists, police, politicians and demographers. Have new police strategies made a difference, or have demographic shifts and population migrations steered the change? Could the reasons be as simple as putting more bad guys behind bars, or does credit go to changes made a generation ago, such as taking the lead out of gasoline or legalizing abortion?

The cellphone.

[Way Of The Crane]

Brain tumors reduce crime?

[Virginian]

Cellphones maybe. But I think the fact that the people of this nation are the most heavily armed in human history has more to do with it.

[Just Counterfly]

Or the fact that it's literally cheaper to buy a nice TV at Walmart than it is to put together the necessary crap you'd nead to reasonably steal one.

[Atanarjuat]

Yeah, you can just trade the excess on your EBT card for a somewhat smaller amount of cash 'til you have enough for said TV.

[db]

Liberalized concealed carry laws?

[Ted S.]

Climate change.

[mad libertarian guy]

Could the reasons be as simple as putting more bad guys behind bars, or does credit go to changes made a generation ago, such as taking the lead out of gasoline or legalizing abortion?

Nothing about the dramatic rise in the number of guns purchased over the last few years, I see.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

It was noted. That's why the drop in crime is such a "mystery".

[Palin's Buttplug]

A former foreign policy adviser has claimed that the president's "risk-averse attitude" has harmed American interests in the Middle East.

What, did a former president give nation-building a bad name?

[db]

Lyndon Johnson?

[Lord Humungus]

3 Small Wars That Could Become the Next Vietnam
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/.....aspx#page1

The war in Afghanistan is drawing to a close, marking the end of more than a decade of continuous fighting in big, traditional conflicts. But even as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, the United States is already committing to a series of smaller engagements in Africa that have the dangerous potential to become larger conflicts.

The U.S. military has a presence in the Central African Republic, where U.S. special operators are assisting in the hunt for Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony. The Pentagon is building drone bases in Chad and Niger. In Nigeria, U.S. troops are training the local military to fight against the Muslim extremist group, Boko Haram. They're also supporting the NATO mission in Mali and have drones flying over both Somalia and Kenya. From the Republic of Djibouti in the horn of Africa, U.S. troops coordinate missions across the continent.

[DJF]

How about instead of fighting these wars we disband the United States Africa Command instead

[Just Counterfly]

Seriously! They are cutting (not really, but philosophically) into my workload.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Obama's "risk-averse attitude" at work.

[Ted S.]

There is no next Vietnam.

People need to get their fucking heads out of the asshole of the 1960s.

[DJF]

Yes, we will never fight another ideological enemy in their home country. A country which is not very important to the vast majority of Americans. And fight the war in a way which costs thousands of US lives and trillions of dollars

[Enough About Palin]

Didn't I read here that drone attacks have killed 47,000 people? That's just 8,000 shy of the number of Americans killed in Vietnam. And we're still droning.

[Bam!]

Agreed. There's no way the Vietnamese are going to show up for a war in another country.

[Lord Humungus]

what? No reunion tour?

[Ice Nine]

I love that "Whiter Shade" song Boko Haram did back when.

[Francisco d Anconia]

more than a decade of continuous fighting in big, traditional conflicts.

Big traditional conflicts?

If people think Iraq and Afghanistan were big conflicts, they are in for quite a shock should we ever again engage in a real war.

6500 dead? In 10+ years? WWII killed 670,000 Americans.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Apologies. read the wrong column. 405,000

[Bobarian]

WWI had single days of conflict where more than 100K casualties were taken.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Secretary of State John Kerry has released $250 million in aid to Egypt, saying that the aid is intended to support the country's "future as a democracy."

I love how that to these people democracy automatically = good. There were other factors in the equation of American success, and one such factor had more to do with limited government than the type of government itself. But of course, the "will of the people," enacted on large timescales (2-4 years) is infinitely superior to something that can shift with the winds every goddamn second. Yeahhh...right.

[tarran]

Please keep in mind that it was a splinter of the Muslim Brotherhood that merged with Osama Bin Laden's anti=Soviet Mujaheddin organization to form Al Queda.

Essentially, the U.S. is giving 250 million bucks to an organization that is ideologically allies with al Queda.

Just remember, guys, it's we non-interventionists who encourage evil to flourish in the world!

[Drax the Destroyer]

I bring this up whenever I can. Almost got me punched in the face by a rage filled vagina of a Neocon the other week. Hilarious.

[Ted S.]

Except that there is no such thing as a neocon. 😉

[Drax the Destroyer]

Is this a meme or something? I'm getting old and I can't tell what you damn kids are talking about anymore.

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

Not exactly a meme, just something peeps have been arguing about here lately. The basic issue is: neocon initially had a very specific meaning, which was diluted throughout the Bush 43 presidency, and now the word means little other than "hawkish interventionist" or some such. So, is "neocon" a useful word that means anything anymore, or just a pointless slur?

[Drax the Destroyer]

Considering that I've always equated it with "hawkish interventionist," I don't see why I can't use it usefully or as a slur.

[Citizen Nothing]

Needz moar "Get off my fucking lawn!"

[Palin's Buttplug]

Democracy also means respect for individual rights to most people. Granted, to libertarians that seems odd though.

[wareagle]

even for you, that is nuclear level derp. And reality shows the Brotherhoodto be the antithesis of individual rights, yet your guy in the White House is all about this group. Deflect much?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Quit lying. Any power void in the Middle East will be filled by some group of scumbags. No one thinks the MB are anything else.

[Enough About Palin]

STOP GETTING YOUR TALKING POINTS FROM MICHAEL MOORE.

[Drax the Destroyer]

No it means respect for the MAJORITY's rights. Subject to maybe change every election. Maybe. The U.S. is NOT a democracy.

[VG Zaytsev]

Democracy also means respect for individual rights to most people.

Right, because 'most people' are proglodytes, that worship 'the people' as their new god. So anything good must somehow be the real, actual will of 'the people'.

In the real world, democracy means majority rule and is completely compatible with Jim Crow and any number of other atrocities.

[Jordan]

Japanese internment was democratic.

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

And constitutional!

[thom]

People use "democracy" as shorthand for "like it is here". They don't actually reason through how the majority is going to fuck over the minority, etc, just that by embracing "democracy" a country will get nice schools and people will stop shooting each other...or something.

[Pro Libertate]

Lynch mobs are democratic.

[Citizen Nothing]

I vote we tar and feathers us a buttplug! Who's with me?

[Francisco d Anconia]

aye

[gaijin]

INteresting debate on the intelligence squared program on PBS...the argument was "Better democractically elected islamists than dictators"...the 'con' argument was essentially that islamists are totalitarians and thus, democractically elected totalitarians are not preferable to dictators...interestingly, the audience was against the idea (i.e., agreed that islamists were anathema whether elected or not).

[Fluffy]

It doesn't really matter.

To me, the reason to support democracy in Islamic countries even if it results in Islamic governments is because there's no other way to discredit Islamism in the eyes of the populations there other than letting them take a shot at governing.

When you try to achieve stasis on the basis of strongmen for decades at a time, during that entire time frame the opposition groups are painting a picture of how much better things would be if they were in charge. There's no way to burst that fantasy in the case of Islamism other than letting them put up or shut up.

If no Communist party had ever governed anywhere in the world, there would be Communist activists blowing shit up in the United States today. I'm convinced of it. Communism was discredited by its governing record. That record was a pretty shitty experience for the people who had to live in it, and Islamic rule will be, too. But we would never have moved past Communism in the historical sense if that painful lesson hadn't been learned. Islamism will be the same way.

[Enough About Palin]

That is very interesting, Fluffy. Thanks.

[Lord Humungus]

A Limp Recovery Questions Ben's High Self Regard
http://www.realclearmarkets.co.....00170.html

Asset inflation does not appear in the conventional economics textbook, but it takes all forms. Ostensibly this is a welcome form of inflation (though it will not be termed as such), expressly desired by monetary officials as an additional psychological push on the tendency to consume and create generic activity - the so-called "wealth effect". But not all asset inflation is stock prices; commodity prices can and do experience asset inflation as well. So the intentional act of creating inflation expectations through extreme dovishness has the dual effect of pushing up the nominal levels of commodity prices while at the same time reducing the incentives of corporate businesses to invest productively (among other effects).

That about explains why we are still talking about the recovery that won't seem to appear some forty-three months after it should have. Chairman Bernanke is absolutely correct by-the-numbers, yet Congressmen will continue to harass the Chairman of the Federal Reserve to explain if there are any side effects to massive monetary measures beyond the fact that they still have to ask. The Federal Reserve can only continue on its current path as long as people continue to accept that the definition of success can be so narrowly construed.

[Palin's Buttplug]

QE is extremely easy to reverse and inflation is well contained. Bernanke's success is what the right hates about him most.

[gaijin]

And how is QE reveresed without consequences? Do tell.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Sell the bonds. The "printed" money all went into discrete financial instruments. It is not out there floating around.

I need to write a column on Fed basics for this place.

[Fluffy]

Ummmm...that would have the effect of worsening any rise in interest rates that was accompanying the rise associated with the monetary inflation.

Essentially you're saying, "Don't worry, if inflation comes and the bond bubble pops, we'll take care of it by dumping our massive portfolio of bonds right on top of the natural bond market collapse."

Good luck with that.

[Fluffy]

Here's a one-sentence lesson for you on Treasury funding basics:

Greece was solvent when interest rates were 2% and insolvent at 5%.

Homework question based on lesson:

What happens to the US if t-bill rates go from 0% to 5%? Not 15% or something crazy, but just 5%?

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Fed's Treasury portfolio is not significant enough to do that. And the Fed has the luxury of determining the Fed funds rate thus timing their escape with the outflow of excess reserves.

Also, half the bonds they are buying are MBS and would do quite well in an inflationary environment. I can see the Fed paying the Treasury $150 billion a year in profit.

[Bobarian]

"I can see the Fed paying the Treasury $150 billion a year in profit."

In dollars that aren't worth anything...

When this happens, my house will likely be worth $150 Million, because inflation is coming. How big and how bad is the question.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Fluffy, don't confuse PB with 5th-grade math, he's too stupid to understand it.

The Fed's Treasury portfolio is not significant enough to do that.

It is when they now own 10% of the current national debt.

Also, half the bonds they are buying are MBS and would do quite well in an inflationary environment.

Yeah, nothing bad ever happens in a housing bubble.

[VG Zaytsev]

QE is extremely easy to reverse

Yeah right.

[Citizen Nothing]

The Plug's got a plan! (Just like the Cylons!)

[Bobarian]

Sounds a lot like Krugnutz...

[mad libertarian guy]

Bernanke's success is what the right hates about him most.

Yeah. It's not the debasement of our currency or anything.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

QE is extremely easy to reverse and inflation is well contained. Bernanke's success is what the right hates about him most.

Yeah, his success in nuking personal savings plans and supressing mark-to-market financing.

Go back to fucking your dog, you waste of carbon molecules.

[Lord Humungus]

Greece: Golden Dawn's "national awakening" sessions
http://www.economist.com/blogs.....k-politics

Golden Dawn, Greece's extreme right-wing party, already has a growing presence in public high schools around the country. Teenage supporters have been spreading its racist message despite complaints by the Greek teachers' union and left-of-centre political parties.

Now Golden Dawn is targeting pupils at primary schools. Its official website recently hosted pictures of neatly-dressed 6 to ten-year-olds, accompanied by parents, at a "national awakening" session held at a Golden Dawn branch office outside Athens. The session included a discussion on "the Olympian gods, the ancient Greek pantheon and the Christian faith". More such lessons are planned, says the party.

[Virginian]

When leftist nihilists destroy the proper teaching of history in favor of ideological bashing of nation and culture, then sooner or later a nationalist group will form and start the indoctrination the other way around. When socialism destroys classical liberalism, the pushback will be fascist, not classically liberal.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Which is why this classic liberal is a Western cultural supremacist. But this supremacy is rooted in skepticism and the Enlightenment - not religion.

Your comment begs a good argument. I admired Oriana Fallaci while she was alive and as a liberal atheist she embraced Catholicism as a bulwark against the Muslim horde overrunning Europe.

[DJF]

"""Now Golden Dawn is targeting pupils at primary schools. Its official website recently hosted pictures of neatly-dressed 6 to ten-year-olds, accompanied by parents, at a "national awakening" session held at a Golden Dawn branch office outside Athens."'

First they say that its targeting pupils at primary schools and then it says that it being held at party offices. I am not Greek but I can see why they would not want political parties being inside public schools but I can't see where having kids in party offices is anyone's business except for the parents and the party

[Don Mynack]

Leftist violence in Greece has been on the uptick lately, with the government doing next to nothing about it. Here's a list of leftie attacks in late 2012:

January 21: Arson attack against offices of the Ministry of Culture in Athens. Perpetrators unknown
February 13: Arson attacks against two cinemas in the center of Athens during a violent public demonstration in Athens. Local anarchist networks (suspected)
February 27: Arson attack against a wagon in the metro rail system in Athens. Urban guerrilla group

June 27: Large-scale arson attack against the offices of Microsoft in Athens. International Revolutionary Front
September 2: Small-scale bombing of a municipal police building in Athens. Perpetrators unknown
October 8: Arson attack against wagon of tram network in Athens. Perpetrators unknown
November 26: Arson attack against the house of former general secretary of ministry of public works in Athens. Minority Struggle
December 7: Small-scale bombing in the house of former finance minister in Athens. Perpetrators unknown
December 8: Large-scale bombing of an office of the Golden Dawn party in the outskirts of Athens. Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI)
December 30: Small-scale bombing in a local magistrate's office in Athens. Perpetrators unknown

Not surprising that the people have turned to "strength" to fill a vacuum, even if that strength is a bunch of loonies.

[mad libertarian guy]

Nothing says ANARCHY like protesting losing your government cheese.

[Lord Humungus]

The Life Enhancing, Unrelenting Brilliance of Income Inequality
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jo.....nequality/

nstead, the very politicians who express fear about income inequality expropriated the funds of the careful in our midst in order to paper over the mistakes of lenders and borrowers alike. The imprudent were bailed out on the backs of the prudent, and a lifestyle gap in terms of house that was set to shrink didn't reveal itself thanks to allegedly compassionate politicians. Not asked enough then or now is what's compassionate about taking from the careful (I'm neither rich, nor do I own a home) in order to cushion the egregious errors of the prodigals in our midst.

So while expansions in the wealth gap have become sport for the partisan and economically illiterate on both sides of the political divide, the real truth is that the sentient among us should cheer every time they read of rising inequality. The sentient should cheer because it signals enterprise being rewarded, freedom to keep the fruits of one's labor, and then for all of us not rich it signals that our lives are getting better and better; the lifestyle disparity between us and them (the rich) shrinking precisely because economic achievement is taking place.

[Atanarjuat]

I linked to this on the Book of Faces. I eagerly await the response from all my friends and relatives who constantly whine about "income inequality"...fucking commies.

[Fatty Bolger]

More gun/school stupidity: School Offers Counseling for Students Troubled by Pastry-Gun Incident

Pretty sure that if your children are "troubled" by another kid biting a pastry into something that looks sort of like a gun and waving said pastry around, you have already failed as a parent.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The meaning may be more sinister. Here is the relevant passage in the letter which the school *sent to all parents* -

"If your children express that they are troubled by today's incident, please talk with them and help them share their feelings. Our school counselor is available to meet with any students who have the need to do so next week. In general, please remind them of the importance of making good choices."

I think this covers students who are indignant at the school itself. Parents should advise them to make "good choices" - ie, not violate these ridiculous rules - or else they might be suspended, too.

So as I see it, parents are expected to warn their kids against committing any pastry-related crimes, or otherwise provoking the insane paranoia of the administrators, or risk having the kids sent home.

[wareagle]

maybe the kids are troubled in a way teh educrats would neve consider - they see authority being misused and wonder what act of institutional stupidity will be visited on them.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I think that's exactly what these administrators are worried about. That's why they're suggesting that parents warn the kids not to triggers the administrators' paranoia.

[Rich]

Josh's father expressed amazement at the school's reaction to the incident, which involved a pastry.

Too bad Josh's father is not a student. If he were, he could get counseling for that amazement.

Doom.

[Just Counterfly]

With that attitude he may soon be a student at a re-education camp.

[Brett L]

I hope by "expressed amazement", they mean set fire to the school with the idiot who made this decision locked inside by him/herself.

[Rich]

Serious question: Anybody know if the school is now banning breakfast pastries?

[Bobarian]

They're referred to as 'Assault Pastries' now.

[Rich]

TSA Sealed $50-Million Sequester-Eve Deal to Buy New Uniforms

If only they'd wear T-shirts instead of those stupid epaulettes.

[BigT]

Orange jumpsuits would be appropos.

[Rich]

Or *nothing*.

"As you can see, I'm entirely professional as I pat you down."

[Eduard van Haalen]

"And my erection isn't prompted by you, but by thinking about my wife, Morgan Fairchild."

[Enough About Palin]

It would not surprise me to learn that Dunphy is a TSA groper who dreams of becoming a detective.

[thom]

If they started dressing the TSA screeners like the most ridiculous South American military officers: huge epaulettes, sashes, ridiculous caps, chest covered with medals, etc...I would approve of that.

[Azathoth!!]

Something by Hugo Boss perhaps?

[The Late P Brooks]

But Klaus, who claims to be a follower of Smith, bristled at those words. For much of the past year, Klaus has been trying to urge the banks to extend more loans to Czech businesses, lower their interest rates and ease up on pursuing bad loans - all for the sake of economic recovery.

Maybe he can replace Bernanke.

[DJF]

Can Klaus fly a helicopter with one hand and throw money out with the other?

[mad libertarian guy]

School offers counseling services to those grieving and reeling from the pastry-gun "incident" in which a student was suspended for chewing a pop tart in to the shape of a gun. From the letter sent home by the school:

If your children express that they are troubled by today's incident, please talk with them and help them share their feelings. Our school counselor is available to meet with any students who have the need to do so next week.

I suggest counseling for anyone who thinks this is an appropriate response.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

...encourage you to discuss this matter with your child in a manner you deem most appropriate.

Oh, I would. And it wouldn't be compatible with the school's position.

[mad libertarian guy]

Oh, I would. And it wouldn't be compatible with the school's position.

Exactly this.

[Rich]

I suggest showing this commercial to anyone who thinks this is an appropriate response.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Six fingers? One would be sufficient for these administrators.

[BigT]

Good news - the police will start videotaping their own activities in Laurel, MD. This is exactly what we need to even the playing field in pig-human interactions. The cops should be wearing these whenever they are on duty, and no arrests should be considered legit without the video evidence. If a cop's video is off he/she should be removed from the field, and if it is repeated he/she should be fired.

LAUREL, Md. (WJZ) ? Videotaping police encounters. It's a controversial issue when citizens record the cops. Now one Maryland police department is going to start recording citizens right back.

The cameras will be worn on sunglasses and other types of headgear. Many people believe they benefit both the police and the public.

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/.....el-police/

[sarcasmic]

I'm sure that they will predictably malfunction when a peasant complains.

[mad libertarian guy]

I'm sure that they will predictably malfunction when a peasant complains.

How dare you question those who represent the law!

And of course they will. They already do with a frequency that should leave your average citizen shocked. Especially in cases where there is obvious police abuse, and for only the portions of the tape which would incriminate said cop.

I agree with the OP. Any arrest which does not have the corroborating video tape should be automatically dismissed in court.

Too bad it will never happen.

[The Late P Brooks]

If your children express that they are troubled by today's incident, please talk with them and help them share their feelings.

Help us smoke out the heretics and unbelievers.

[Drax the Destroyer]

And the ones that actually say "I don't see what the big fucking deal is" will be beaten with flatscreen TVs showing the endless Sandy Hook coverage.

[The Late P Brooks]

SCENE: Office of elementary school mental health services officer.

"We're only trying to do what's right. It's a well known fact that all serial killers played with imaginary guns as children. If your child shows an interest in guns, he's a serial killer just waiting to spring into action. Help us help HIM."

[Marshall Gill]

We are all serial killers just waiting to activate!

How many young boys don't play with imaginary guns?

[mad libertarian guy]

How many young boys don't play with imaginary guns?

None that are anything approaching normal.

[Just Counterfly]

You guys think there are goggles that could make thin crust pizza look palatable and worth eating? I don't.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I've seen Taco Bell look palatable at certain times and BACs, so I couldn't rule it out entirely.

[Bobarian]

FOURTH MEAL!

(shudder)

[The Late P Brooks]

QE is extremely easy to reverse and inflation is well contained.

I have heard this before. Some guy, what was his name... Greenbaum, Greenspaugh, something like that.

[Virginian]

http://danaloeschradio.com/col.....your-side/

CO Dem to rape victim who wishes she'd been armed: "Statistics aren't on your side"

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

Things like this actually make me sad. Fuck Evie Hudak.

[Virginian]

I mean, can you imagine if a Republican had said something stupid and insensitive about rape. Why, if such a thing were to ever happen, say in Missouri, why such a thing would be national news.

[mad libertarian guy]

But to the left it isn't insensitive to suggest that a woman should rather be raped than protect herself against rape with a gun.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Or that wimminz are weak fragile creatures who couldn't possibly handle a gun properly.

[Bobarian]

Unless it's a shotgun.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Religious beliefs trap people into saying stupid things.

[Jordan]

It's okay, her body has defense against legitimate rape.

[Virginian]

http://dailycaller.com/2013/03.....legations/

Menendez story not over yet. Daily Caller claims WaPo has the wrong hooker.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The WaPo is simply looking at the bright side. It's uncovering all the prostitutes Menendez *didn't* hook up with!

[Eduard van Haalen]

Officer: "And you still insist you're innocent, in spite of the fact that we have six witnesses to the crime ?"

Offender: "If it's witnesses you want, I can produce seventy people who didn't see me steal the stuff."

http://www.jokebuddha.com/Witnesses#ixzz2MgAhVBsF

[Palin's Buttplug]

You mean the DC's ratfucker found another whore to pay off.

[db]

More fun from the NRC:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/.....305en.html

Power Reactor Event Number: 48805

Facility: MONTICELLO Region: 3 State: MN Unit: [1] [ ] [ ] RX Type: [1] GE-3 NRC Notified By: ANGELIQUE BRAY HQ OPS Officer: VINCE KLCO

Notification Date: 03/04/2013 Notification Time: 11:58 [ET] Event Date: 03/04/2013 Event Time: 09:27 [CST] Last Update Date: 03/04/2013

Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR Section: 50.72(b)(2)(xi) - OFFSITE NOTIFICATION

Person (Organization): NICK VALOS (R3DO)

Unit SCRAM Code RX CRIT Initial PWR Initial RX Mode Current PWR Current RX Mode

1 N Y 100 Power Operation 0 Cold Shutdown

Event Text

OFFSITE NOTIFICATION DUE TO A FISH KILL

"At 0927 CST on March 4, 2012, XCEL Energy Environmental Services made a report to the State of Minnesota regarding 475 fish killed from the discharge canal temperature transient following reactor shutdown on March 2, 2013."

Monticello was in the process of performing a planned shutdown in preparation for a refueling outage.

The NRC Resident Inspector, Wright County Sheriffs Department and Sherburne County Sheriffs Department have been notified by the licensee.

Yes, you read that right: they had to report a fish kill related to the unit shutting down, and the water at the cooling system outlet getting too cold. In Minnesota.

[Brett L]

Haha. Turning off the nuke plant kills fish!

[Ken Shultz]

"Secretary of State John Kerry has released $250 million in aid to Egypt, saying that the aid is intended to support the country's "future as a democracy."

We used to support Mubarak like that--Mubarak in conjunction with the Egyptian army.

Now we're supporting the Muslim Brotherhood like that--the Muslim Brotherhood in conjunction with the Egyptian army.

The Muslim Brotherhood is acting a lot like Mubarak used to act--like they're our ally.

Yeah, the Muslim Brotherhood is effectively our ally now. That relationship will probably make them increasingly unpopular with the Egyptian people, but who cares what the Egyptian people want?

It works that way here in the U.S., too. Very few people wanted ObamaCare or TARP or to financially support the Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian Army, but who cares what the American people want?

Democracy doesn't give people what they want. It's mostly just a means to legitimize what those in power want to do.

[Virginian]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/04/.....?hpt=hp_c1

[Brett L]

I'm leaving on a 10 day vacation Friday. While most of it will be spent trying to gorge myself on Tex-Mex and barbeque while drinking as much beer as I possibly can and not throw up on my gf, I imagine I'll need something to read while waiting for the hair of the dog to kick in. Who's got book recommendations?

[Virginian]

What do you usually like?

[Brett L]

SFF mostly, although any good historical fiction is always appreciated. I've read everything by Stross, Heinlein, F. Herbert, and (shamefully) Jim Butcher.

Hello, my name's Brett, and I have an urban fantasy problem....

[Virginian]

Have you read Monster Hunter International?

[Brett L]

I'll check it out, thanks.

[Bobarian]

Jim Butcher is a fine writer, much better than most others in the Urban Fantasy realm.

[Brett L]

Spoiler and Rant Alert - skip if you might want to read the books

The first 3 were great, then there was a dip in quality, then there were a couple of dark and gritty ones which were good, but at some point he has united something like 1/3rd of the magical power in the world in Dresden and three of Dresden's buddies. I'm just waiting for Thomas to gain some uber power. Honestly, what could possibly threaten Team Dresden at this point? Should've left him dead and taken up the story from another perspective.

[Virginian]

Uh, duh you just up the power of the bad guys. You got eldritch abominations out there that could easily dismantle pre Cold Days Harry. He needs more gun, Chicago needs more gun, the world needs more gun. I think Butcher has like seven more books to write, and then he caps the series off with an "apocalyptic trilogy".

[Virginian]

The problem with post Twilight urban fantasy is that half of it has been written to cash in on that. So instead of original concepts we get Anita Blake or Twilight ripoffs. I mean, ripoffs can be competently done, I'm sure at least one of the dozen or so ripoffs of Harry Dresden I've run across are, but right now the market niche is full of "paranormal romance".

[Kaptious Kristen]

SugarFree Fiction? You have a sick, sick mind. Sicker than SF's, because he just writes the stuff - you actually read it!

[SugarFree]

I can't help it. Look on with with pity and not hate.

[Brett L]

Don't judge how I get my jollies.

[SugarFree]

Altered Carbon, Richard Morgan
The Skinner, Neal Asher
John Dies At The End, David Wong
Version 43 or Red Claw, Philip Palmer
Player of Games, Iain Banks

[Jordan]

Departure by Neal Asher, if you like sci-fi and libertarian revenge porn. If you like fantasy, anything by Joe Abercrombie, starting with the First Law trilogy.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Magus

[db]

Marooned in Realtime (Vinge)
The Dragon in the Sea (Herbert)
The Songs of Distant Earth (Clarke)

[Bobarian]

Thomas Covenant Trilogies - Stephen R Donaldson.

Since a whole bunch of fantasy out there is a rehash of LOTR, these a least do something different with the meme.

[Virginian]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03.....d=all&_r=0

Happy Days are here again!

[Ken Shultz]

That's been scarin' the hell out of me.

That along with this one I read the other day...

"Student-Loan Securities Stay Hot"

Investors' Hunger for Returns Is Driving Demand Even as More Borrowers Fall Behind on Their Payments

"It's a reach for yield," said Jeffrey Klingelhofer, a portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, which didn't participate in the SLM offering.

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....74174.html

Classic bubble behavior. The only question is the extent to which this is attributable to Bernanke's irresponsible behavior.

In both the NYT story you posted and the WSJ story, they're both linking the uptick to Bernanke. It's okay, though, I'm sure Obama will bail out everyone he can...

What we need is more regulation in the student loan industry! Do these students really understand what they're signing? And why should it be legal for the stock brokers to sell securities to average people? They're too astupid to understand what they're buying!

[Sevo]

"A bill will be introduced to the Colorado Senate next week that would require law enforcement officials to take a course on how to deal with dogs."

Choot 'em!

[Ken Shultz]

I'm sure that's what it'll turn into eventually.

When is it okay to shoot a dog?

Then it'll morph into--How to protect yourself, legally, when you shoot a dog.

[Sevo]

And if we cut one more penny from the budget, people will have to eat dogfood!
"Lifeline phone service goes wireless"
..."The program is part of the federally funded Lifeline effort,"...

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/.....z2MgEMkjw7

[Ken Shultz]

"As of Monday, two companies are now offering free cell phones and service to anyone in the state who can prove that his or her annual income is less than $14,702.

The program is part of the federally funded Lifeline effort, which until now in California provided only landline phone service to the poor.

On Thursday, the state Public Utilities Commission expanded Lifeline to cell phones, allowing those who qualify to receive free phones and monthly plans for 250 talk minutes and 250 text messages."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/.....z2MgGGH4Gg

They weren't kidding about those ObamaPhones!

[mad libertarian guy]

On Thursday, the state Public Utilities Commission expanded Lifeline to cell phones, allowing those who qualify to receive free phones and monthly plans for 250 talk minutes and 250 text messages."

I'm not sure that I object to people having the ability to call for help. But the answer is not a "free" cell phone that carries 250 min and 250 text messages per month, but a phone that only has the ability to call 911. Every new iPhone has that ability alone before it has been activated by a cell provider. Why should an "emergency" phone have the ability to do anything other than call an emergency number? I mean, why besides using these phones as a way to buy votes?

[Ken Shultz]

Both the Democrats and Republicans strive to become the caricatures their opponents make them out to be.

When the Democrats make fun of the Republicans for being a bunch of gun toting savages, Republicans line up to buy AR-15s.

When the Republicans make fun of the Democrat underclass for voting for Obama because they want free stuff like ObamaPhones, the Democrats invent ObamaPhones.

Please, no one make fun of Democrats for wanting free summer vacations to Hawaii!

[itsnotmeitsyou]

ANY cell phone that can connect to a modern tower has the ability to dial 911 in the USA whether it has active service or not. I could fish out my old Nokia, power it up, and dial 911. I used to take collections of old unused phones for this very purpose to donate to women's shelters. We'd give them an old phone and the chargers for it so they could dial 911 if they needed to.

[Virginian]

I can think of another easily carried tool that would be better for an abused woman to carry around. Doesn't need batteries either.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

So can I. If they carried, then they wouldn't be battered.

If I had the resources to buy each of them a gun, I would have offered them and offered to train them to use it. As it were, the org was operating on a nearly non-existent budget to begin with and everyone running the place was volunteering.

[Virginian]

Yeah, I know. I used to help out with the women's shelter to. I got disgusted and left because there was a situation where the safe house had been compromised. Her kids had seen their dad watching from across the street. So I volunteered to sleep on the couch until we could make alternate arrangements. They wouldn't tell me where it was, because obviously I'm a man and thus automatically suspect. So I told them they were making a big mistake and stopped volunteering.

[Hyperion]

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet:

Former DEA goons, outraged

[Slammer]

"The onetime DEA heads are issuing joint statements Tuesday.."

hahahahahaha

[Brett L]

I was drinking with members of the Rooney clan of Pittsburgh Steelers ownership fame. Apparently, they brew and sell beer in Pennsylvania and FL. A friend's craft beer bar was featuring them as one of the clan (who is a state legislator from Palm Beach -- go figure) was in town for the start of session or something and came up to the bar. Their salesguy chatted me up, and spoke barely comprehensible English, I'm guessing the yinzer dialect. It was a drinkable beer, but I wasn't super impressed. Although I appreciate them buying me one.

[Virginian]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_.....ments?lite

RACIST!!!! RACIST!!! RACIST!!!!

[sarcasmic]

Kathy Griffin is just plain scary looking.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-hike.html
John would fuck her.

[Virginian]

God there's nothing more pathetic then men dating older women. I mean, it's one thing to have an older chick in your phone and see her once in a while, but dating her? Why?

[Kaptious Kristen]

She's one of those women that absolutely, positively needs makeup to look like a normal human.

[Ken Shultz]

I thought John just liked fat chicks?

[mad libertarian guy]

That's one ugly fucking hag.

I call bullshit. Not even Warty would fuck that. Steve Smith, maybe, but definitely not John.

[The Late P Brooks]

The only question is the extent to which this is attributable to Bernanke's irresponsible behavior.

What I find incredible is that many, if not most, members of the "financial press" are explicitly cheerleading Bernanke's efforts to herd investorsa into the equity market in pursuit of "yield".

He is destroying savings in an attempt to keep the lights on in the casino.

[Ken Shultz]

I don't think he knows how to wind it down now.

The new rule of governance seems to be that you can't make a major move without a crisis to justify it.

The bubbles haven't burst yet, so you can't use them to justify a major move. And ending their treasury buying program would be a major move.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....bonds.html

New housing is even taking off again in some of those formerly busted markets like Phoenix. I don't know what he's waiting for--Europe to improve?

Wake up, Ben!

[The Late P Brooks]

I need to write a column on Fed basics for this place.

Find something else to do with your Crayolas.

[The Late P Brooks]

I don't think he knows how to wind it down now.

Even if Bennay! somehow concluded it was time to wind things down, he'd be subjected to howls of outrage from the White House and Capitol Hill about destroying the recovery.

He sold the Fed's soul to Hank Paulson, and he'll never get it back.

[Brett L]

Kate Upton lookalike, available to come to US for right man.

Ania's Twitter, which has since been made private, lists her as living in Vancouver and Moscow. She describes herself as a "Mail order bride in training."

[Heroic Mulatto]

My 2 cents.

[Virginian]

I'd enjoy training her.

[francis321]

Stella. I can see what your saying... Shawn`s st0rry is exceptional... last saturday I bought a great Alfa Romeo since getting a cheque for $6885 this past 5 weeks and-even more than, 10-k this past month. it's definitly the best job I've ever had. I started this eight months/ago and immediately began to bring home over $84, p/h. I follow the details here,, jump15.com

[Enough About Palin]

Not everyone is willing to be cornholed by Warty for some quick cash.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Were you listening to the Shawn's story?